In the information released after the Chancellor's Pre Budget Report in December 2003 was paragraph 5.91 of a Treasury Report. It alluded to proposals to be brought forward in the 2004 Budget to ensure owner/managers paid 'the right amount of tax'.
This has been described as a tax 'time bomb' for small businesses. Shout99 will be keeping freelancers up-to-date with all developments in this area of the site 'News on IR5.91'.

The controversial dividend tax, also known as IR591, continued to attract attention in the House of Commons during the remaining stages of Finance Bill, when the LibDems tabled an amendment to reduce the 19 per cent tax level to five per cent.

The Budget tax increase on small company profits has hit the formation of new UK companies by 18 per cent according to figures published by Companies House. Accountants Wilkins Kennedy says the figures prove that since the Budget fewer new businesses are forming as companies, and less sole traders and partnerships are deciding to convert into companies.

Simon Sweetman, a member of Shout99's 'Ask An Expert' forum and Vice Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses' taxation unit outlines his view of what is known so far on the new 'tax on dividends'.

The waiting and speculation about the form IR591 would take came to an end at 1pm today when Chancellor Gordon Brown outlined in his Budget statement the substance of what to date has only been speculation and how he intends to ensure that small businesses and freelancers 'pay the right amount of tax'.

The threatened tax blow to freelance contractors in the Budget (March 17, 2004) could restrict the mobility of labour and lead to a serious shortage of skilled experts, according to the JSA Group which manages the financial affairs of over 4,500 contractors in the UK and overseas.

The Labour Small Business Forum, which is a network of Labour Party members who work for themselves, has written to the Chancellor ahead of the budget calling for basic tests of ‘certainty, fairness and clarity’ to be applied to any new rules.

It has come to Qdos’s attention that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been presented with five suggestions for the future taxation of dividends from small incorporated businesses, following his announcement in paragraph 5.91 of the Pre-Budget Report in December 2003.

Liberal Democrat MP Brian Cotter has put forward another Early Day Motion (EDM) on the Government's Budget proposal, IR591, and the potential adverse impact it will have on freelancers and small businesses. A similar EDM was recently put forward by Conservative Mark Prisk MP.